Opp flays Sana for criticising Rangers

LAHORE

Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmood-ul-Rasheed on Tuesday severely criticised the government for its 'dual policy' over Rangers' role in Karachi in the wake of current situation.

Speaking on the floor of Punjab Assembly on a point of order, the Opposition leader expressed anger over the recent statement of Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan when the latter stated that it wasn’t Rangers' duty to demolish MQM offices.

The Opposition leader said that Rangers and Pakistan Army Jawans were protecting the country from anti-state elements, combating against terrorists at the risk of their lives. 

He stated that if Rangers was demolishing the offices of a political party whose activists were chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, it must be supported.

He said anyone who had challenged the national sovereignty must be dealt with iron hands and no one should possess any soft corner for them. The Opposition leader demanded Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan not to issue such statement regarding Rangers. He also stated the PML-N government was showing a dual policy over Rangers operation in Karachi as Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar was supporting it whereas Rana Sana was issuing contrary statements.

Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal Khan on the occasion asked the Opposition leader not to speak over this issue unless Rana Sanaullah was present in the House. He said if he had any objection regarding his statement, he should take up this issue in the presence of Law Minister. By the time when the Opposition leader was criticising Law Minister, the latter wasn’t present in the House.

Earlier, during the question hour session which was related to the Ministry of School Education, Rana Mashhood responded to the queries of legislators.

Poor functioning of the School Education Department, corruption in the NGO-run public instruction, land grabbing were the key issues which came under discussion during the question hour session. The provincial minister for education also had to face criticism from some of the Opposition members over irrelevant answers.

Responding to a question, the minister said the Punjab government had recruited 38,000 teachers last year and would recruit up to 65,000 to 70,000 more to ensure proper provision of education to children. He said that action had been taken against 19,000 teachers across the province for poor performance.

PPP MPA Faiza Malik, in her question took up the issue of corruption related with an NGO named CARE. According to the Punjab government, there were 167 schools in Lahore which were working under the NGO named CARE. Faiza while speaking in the House drew the attention of the House towards the clean chit given to this NGO by a committee of the PA on which the Speaker directed her not to question the working of the House committee and instructed to expunge these remarks.

Moreover, she also said the Punjab government should also brief PA about the result of the 167 schools which were run by the Care Foundation.

Faiza Malik asked the minister to inform the House as to what was the criterion adopted for adaptation of the school on which he told it had been done after thorough consideration and its purpose was to improve the quality of education. On this answer, Faiza asked the minister to be relevant and tell the House about the criterion on which she was informed that there was complete background of this issue. The minister told PA that after considering world’s best practices in the education sector, the Punjab government, in order to improve quality and standard of education preferred to adopt the public private partnership scheme. He, however, said that Care Foundation or any other NGO only had its say over the school staff whereas all the other matters, including administrative control was run by the government.

Faiza Malik stated that first of all the idea of public private partnership wasn’t adopted by the sitting government as it was initiated in the era of Pervez Musharraf. Moreover, she stated the Punjab government had failed completely to improve the standard of education as nearly 8,000 schools across the province were facing a shutdown.

Mian Tariq Mehmood, a treasury MPA also expressed dissatisfaction on the answer given to him by the minister when the latter told the House about the steps taken by the Punjab government to provide facilities in school. Mian Tariq, citing some schools in his district Gujrat stated they were in such a miserable state that they were not fit or secure to be used as schools.

Rana Mashhood stated that the Punjab government had a complete body which looked after the issues related with the fitness of buildings and it would take all measures to address the complaints where they existed.

Nosheen Hamid of PTI in a question asked why action wasn’t taken against the headmaster of a school whose institution showed poor result. She said a 16 grade official was working on a post of grade 18 but still there was no action from the department concerned. Rana Mashhood responded that there was a proper department procedure which was adopted to take action against any official. He said show-cause notice had also been served on the headmaster and action would also be taken in accordance with the rules.